Connor McDermott is a Vice President at Northpond Ventures where he evaluates and supports biotechnology companies. Connor joined Northpond in 2019 as a member of the investment team and has conducted diligence on 16 closed investments in biotherapeutics companies. In addition to Triumvira, Connor is a Board Director for Transition Bio and is a Board Observer for Aro Biotherapeutics, Faro Health, Garuda Therapeutics, Opna Bio, Totus Medicines, and Walking Fish Therapeutics. Previously, Connor worked in Investment Banking at Leerink Partners, a life science-focused investment bank, where he supported biotechnology companies on business development, IPOs, and M&A transactions. Connor earned a B.A. in Biology and a B.A. in Economics from Brown University.
Affilation: Board of Directors
Jürgen Eckhardt
Jürgen Eckhardt is SVP and Head of Leaps by Bayer, which is the strategic venture capital unit of Bayer. The mission of Leaps is to invest in breakthrough technologies and disruptive business models in the areas of healthcare and agriculture. Jürgen is currently a board member of BlueRock, Joyn Bio, Dewpoint, Khloris, Oerth Bio, Immunitas, and eGenesis. Before joining Bayer in 2016, Jürgen Eckhardt was head of the venture capital franchise at Bellevue Asset Management in Switzerland.
Previously, he was a management consultant and Associate Partner with McKinsey & Co. in Zürich and New York and a member of the Healthcare Leadership Team. He began his career as a radiologist at the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland. Jürgen received his M.D. from the University of Basel and his MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Elizabeth Williams
Elizabeth Williams is the Chief Financial Officer of Medicenna Therapeutics Corp., a clinical-stage immunotherapy company, where she has responsibility for all corporate finance and accounting functions. Ms. Williams joined Medicenna as a private company and led the public listings onto the TSX and subsequently NASDAQ. She has more than 15 years of experience in biotech, working with publicly listed entities in both Canada and the United States, and has played an integral role in raising more than $150 million in financings during this period.
Previously, Ms. Williams was the Vice President of Finance and Administration at Aptose Biosciences, Inc. a biotechnology company listed on both the TSX and NASDAQ, and began her career at Ernst & Young LLP. She is a CPA and CA and received a BBA from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Lee Cooper
Lee is Director of Venture Investments with Leaps by Bayer, where he aims to contribute to new biotechnologies that enable patients and communities to live healthier lives. Prior to joining Leaps, Lee was Entrepreneur-in-Residence with RA Capital and founder of Enlight Bio, a biotech focused on genetic disease. Previously, Lee worked in corporate development for Moderna Therapeutics, leading and supporting transactions, financings, and partnerships to develop novel therapeutics and vaccines.
In addition to Triumvira, Lee serves on the Boards of Pyxis Oncology and FutuRx, and is a Board Observer for Recursion Pharmaceuticals and Century Therapeutics. He is the founder of the Institute for Genetic Disease Prevention and has written on innovation and ethics for Wired, Slate, Neo.Life, and STAT News. Lee earned his J.D. and M.B.A. from Columbia University where he was a Stone Scholar and currently lectures on topics in biotechnology, and graduated with honors from Dartmouth College with an A.B. in Religion and Public Policy.
Robert Mittendorff, MD
Dr. Mittendorff is a General Partner and Head of Healthcare who leads investments at B Capital in venture and growth opportunities in the sector. Previously, he was at Norwest Venture Partners for nearly a decade as a Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare. He has been involved in investments and associated exits with public equity value or acquisition value that exceeds a total of $10B. He is a board-certified emergency physician and former public company operating executive.
He has served on the boards of Impel Neuropharma, Avalyn Pharma, Qventus, and VisitPay, TigerConnect, Neocis, and was a board observer at Talkspace, Omada, and Route92. He was a board member at Silk Road Medical (SILK), iCardiac (acq. by eResearch), and Telcare (acq. by BioTelemetry). Prior to his career in venture capital, Dr. Mittendorff was an executive officer and the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Hansen Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: HNSN), acquired by Auris/JNJ. He earned a Harvard M.D., trained at Stanford in Emergency Medicine, and received his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and his B.S. in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins (high hon).
Robert Williamson
Robert F. Williamson, III has been active in building biotechnology companies and shareholder value for over two decades. He currently is the President and COO of Triumvira Immunologics. Previously, he was the CBO of OncoMyx, an oncolytic virus company, and CEO of BioTheryX, a protein degradation therapeutics company, raising a $100M crossover round and preparing the company for an IPO. Prior to BioTheryX, Mr. Williamson served as CEO of both PharmAkea and ATXCo, oncology and fibrosis companies financed through a partnership with Celgene, until PharmAkea’s acquisition by Galecto and ATXCo’s acquisition by Blade Therapeutics. Prior, Mr. Williamson was CEO of Arriva Pharmaceuticals, President and COO of Eos Biotechnology, which he sold to Protein Design Labs, and COO of DoubleTwist, Inc. through its acquisition by Merck and Hitachi.
Mr. Williamson also serves as a director and adviser for foundations, private, and public companies. Notably, Mr. Williamson served as an early Director of Pharmasset, Inc., where he helped finance, grow, and advance the company into the public markets and through its acquisition by Gilead in 2011 for $11 billion. Earlier, Mr. Williamson was a partner with The Boston Consulting Group and a research assistant for the Federal Reserve Board. He received a BA in economics from Pomona College and an MBA from Stanford.
Paul Lammers
Paul Lammers, MD, MSc, joined Triumvira Immunologics as President and CEO in January 2018. Before Triumvira, Dr. Lammers served as President & CEO at Mirna Therapeutics, for which company he raised $160 million through venture capital and Federal and State government funding, as well as a public listing on NASDAQ. Previously, he served as Chief Medical Officer and Head of US Product Development for EMD Serono.
During his early industry tenure, Dr. Lammers also held various executive/senior management positions in clinical development, medical and regulatory affairs, at different pharmaceutical companies, as well as at small public and privately held biotech companies. Dr. Lammers serves as Lead Independent Director for publicly-traded Salarius Pharmaceuticals, and as Director for a private biotech company, Immunomet.
